Cat's allergies

[Glassgoblin]

Before Electra developed diabetes we were visiting the Vet for her skin irritations (licking and scratching areas bald, hairballs from that over-grooming). We tried Atopica and it didn't seem to help and she was having even more hairball/vomiting while on it so it was stopped. Then she got the steroid shot and soon after developed diabetes. She has been eating a combination of FF pates, and dry foods that included Chicken Soup for the Soul (phasing out over the last month), First Mate duck and blueberries, and Dr. Elsey's Pork (which upsets her digestion). We are looking at finding a hydrolyzed food for a food allergy trial, but I don't want anything too high in carbs.

Has anyone else worked with these circumstances? Electra is picky about wet food texture- she likes pate, and won't even eat other smooth textures like churu or mousse type foods. But she is also picky about types- in the last two years we have tried Tiki, Weruva, Acana, Origin, FussieCat, ZiwiPeak, Almo Nature, Farmina N&D, Applaws, Merrick, and Wellness and my younger cats will eat some of those but Electra will not touch them. So I think a dry food is more likely to be eaten by her at this time. Any recommendations? I looked at the alligator food but it is listed as 38% carbs on an as fed basis, so not a good choice.

 

[CORKY]

Before Electra developed diabetes we were visiting the Vet for her skin irritations (licking and scratching areas bald, hairballs from that over-grooming). We tried Atopica and it didn't seem to help and she was having even more hairball/vomiting while on it so it was stopped. Then she got the steroid shot and soon after developed diabetes. She has been eating a combination of FF pates, and dry foods that included Chicken Soup for the Soul (phasing out over the last month), First Mate duck and blueberries, and Dr. Elsey's Pork (which upsets her digestion). We are looking at finding a hydrolyzed food for a food allergy trial, but I don't want anything too high in carbs.

Has anyone else worked with these circumstances? Electra is picking about wet food texture- she likes pate, and won't even eat other smooth textures like churu or mousse type foods. But she is also picy about types- in the last two years we have tried Tiki, Weruva, Acana, Origin, FussieCat, ZiwiPeak, Almo Nature, Farmina N&D, Applaws, Merrick, and Wellness and my younger cats will eat some of those but Electra will not touch them. So I think a dry food is more likely to be eaten by her at this time. Any recommendations? I looked at the alligator food but it is listed as 38% carbs on an as fed basis, so not a good choice.

@Sienne and Gabby (GA)

 

[squeem3]

Sometimes it's an ingredient in food that causes skin issues. Leroy has a long list of allergies / sensitivities to common ingredients which cause bald patches.

You can start with a limited ingredient single protein food. Canned will have less potential allergy causing fillers than dry food. Koha LID is a good one and is low carb. It's pate. I think Rayne is also pate.

Applaws is not a complete balanced diet, at least not the ones sold in the US. They're a treat / complement food.

A home cooked or raw diet may be an option. I feed Leroy a commercial freeze dried raw food in rabbit. Other members on this board do home made raw following a recipe or raw with a pre-mix or cooked with a pre-mix.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Unfortunately, you don't have a great deal of options for a low carb dry food. Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein and Young Again Zero Carb (it's not zero carb but it's low) are the only 2 options available in the US. My other thought was as Squeem3 noted that a raw diet (preferably homemade since you can control what's in the food). There is a recipe for for a raw diet on Lisa Pierson, DVM's feline nutrition website or you can buy a protein option and use a pre-mix. A pre-mix is a powder that contains all of the additional supplements needed to make a pure protein nutritionally complete. The one I use is from FoodFurLife.

 

[Lara & Luciole (Lu)]

Something possibly worth trying are the rabbit pates. I started Luciole on RAWZ rabbit and Koha rabbit. They're both single protein, low in carbs, and for binders & gums, Koha has agar-agar, and Koha has no binders or gums. I suspect that gums were messing with her.